Fish Sold in Restaurants and Supermarkets Are Often Mislabeled

Ordering the tuna or the salmon at a restaurant or sushi bar might not actually lead to consuming those fish. A study done by a nonprofit ocean protection group, Oceana, found that fish throughout the country are often mislabeled.

According to The New York Times, a study of fish that were genetically tested in 12 parts of the U.S. found that many fish in restaurants, markets, and sushi bars were badly mislabeled. In fact, about one-third of the 1,215 fish samples purchased between 2010 and 2012 were not the fish that their labels claimed they were.

Take, for example, the case of the red snapper. Throughout the course of the study, 120 samples of red snapper were bought for testing. In that sample alone 28 different fish were found, of which 17 were not even part of the snapper family. The study's head author, Kimberly Warner, explained that the main problem is the existence of so many varieties of fish and their tendency to look alike.

While sometimes the issue is that fish look alike, other times deceptions were purposeful. For example, in New York, look-alike fish were sold as tuna 94 percent of the time. Additionally, two-thirds of salmon labeled "wild" were actually of the farm-raised variety.

Oftentimes name swapping was carried out at the consumer's expense. Cheap fish were labeled as more expensive ones in restaurants so patrons could be charged more.

Unfortunately, the study could not tell when the original mislabeling arose. Was it at "the wholesaler, the retailer or at the fishing dock itself?" In many cases it couldn't be determined whether or not the mislabeling was a simple mistake or a calculated ploy.

Sushi bars were most likely to contain mislabeled fish, followed by restaurants. Supermarkets were most likely to have the correct labels.